Cavs prepare for season with renewed focus

Sunday

Sep 28, 2008 at 12:01 AM

They entered last season a distracted team. Holdouts and injuries disrupted them. A trip to China probably didn’t help. Holes in the roster developed, and the Cavaliers staggered through stretches of the NBA season. A far different Cavs team enters training camp Monday. They begin two-a-days Tuesday confident they can be a factor in the title picture.

Chris Beaven

They entered last season a distracted team.

Holdouts and injuries disrupted them. A trip to China probably didn’t help. Holes in the roster developed, and the Cavaliers staggered through stretches of the NBA season.

A far different Cavs team enters training camp Monday. They begin two-a-days Tuesday confident they can be a factor in the title picture.

“Our roster is not perfect, but there’s not one team in this league that can say that their roster is perfect,” General Manager Danny Ferry said. “But I do like the guys in the locker room. I like the guys over in the coaches’ office right now. I’m very comfortable walking into the season with this group of people feeling like this could be a very good team and a very successful season.”

Here’s a preseason look at what the Cavs have done and what they hope to achieve this season.

What needed fixing

When Ferry looked at the Cavs at the end of last season, two flaws jumped out at him.

“I felt like we didn’t have enough ball-handlers and guys that could attack off the dribble,” he said. “We were fragile last year in that regard. And I thought we needed some youth to what we were doing.”

Enter Mo Williams as another ball-handler and scorer and rookie forwards J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson to the frontcourt. Cleveland also added free agent Tarence Kinsey, a young athletic wing.

“We addressed a lot of issues,” Head Coach Mike Brown said.

The addition of Williams is obviously a huge key to the season. His ability to drive and create offense is something the Cavs have sorely needed to complement LeBron James. Williams can take over stretches offensively, which lessens the load on James.

Position to watch

The addition of Williams does give the Cavs a crowded backcourt, which should be a good thing. He takes over at point guard. Who starts alongside him is one of the big questions of camp. When asked who gets the nod, Brown said, “I don’t know.”

“It’s going to be obviously a wide-open, competitive deal, and training camp will dictate who that person will be opening night.”

Improving the offense was a primary focus a year ago. Offense remains a concern, but Brown will not sacrifice a focus on defense for offense.

“We’re trying to have a nice balance,” he said. “Last year we went into training camp talking a little too much about offense, and we lost our edge on the defensive end of the floor early on. ... At the end of the day, our defense has to be our identity.”

New faces to watch

It remains to be seen if Hickson, Jackson or Kinsey make an immediate impact. Kinsey showed promise late in the 2006-07 season with Memphis but spent quite a bit of last year playing in Turkey. Hickson and Jackson look to have the physical gifts necessary for NBA life in the paint, but they also have lots of learning ahead of them.

The 6-foot-9 Hickson looked outstanding in the summer league, and the Cavs are not ruling out giving him extended minutes -- if he earns them.

Brown said Hickson’s situation could be similar to Daniel Gibson’s of two seasons ago.

“Daniel was a young, second-round pick that earned his way into the rotation,” Brown said.

The future

As much as the Cavs focus on this season, there will always be talk about where James will be playing by the fall of 2010.

“Obviously there’s going to be a lot of speculation about 2010,” Ferry said, referring to the summer James can opt out of his contract and become a free agent. “We have an opportunity to hopefully have a great playoff run and have a great season this year. We’ll have that opportunity hopefully the following year. ... We have to seize the opportunities we have in front of us right now ... (and) build an organization, a franchise for the future.”

Assorted camp news

- The Cavs want to reduce James’ minutes this season. After peaking at 42.5 a game in 2005-06, they’ve slightly cut him the last two seasons to 40.9 and 40.4. Their goal is to have him under 40 minutes this season.

- Cavs guard Eric Snow, a McKinley High School graduate, will be reporting for camp despite a knee injury that has ended his career. Snow and the Cavs are awaiting word on an insurance claim. Snow has one year left on his contract, which is worth $7.3 million. “Eric will be here for a physical, and we’ll see what the results of that are ... and kind of see where that takes us from there,” Ferry said.

- Anderson Varejao turns 26 today, making him one of the team’s old men. Eight of the Cavs under contract are age 25 or younger. The oldest Cavs on the roster is Snow (35), followed by Ben Wallace (34). The youngest? Hickson recently turned 20.